Brothers For Life
by neon maverick
Summary: Me and Zack, we’re closer than close. We’re twins. We’re brothers. He’s my very best friend I don’t know what I’d do without him. WARNING: Major character death.
1. Joking

_Disclaimer: If I really owned Suite Life, would I be _saying _that I didn't? Anyway, I do not own Zack, Cody, Carey and all the other guys. I do not own Suite Life, or the Tipton, or anything else._

_Summary: Me and Zack, we're closer than close. We're twins. We're brothers. He's my very best friend; I don't know what I'd do without him. WARNING: Major character death._

_Most of this story is going to be in Cody's POV, by the way._

* * *

Me and Zack, we do everything together. At this moment, we're looking at our school message board, where I can't help feeling wistful when I see the Big Bang club. It's a club for blowing up stuff, and whatnot.

'It's bad enough having to go to school in the first place.' Zack says. 'Now they're trying to make us stay _afterwards aswell_?'

Then he grabs my arm, trying to pull me away. 'But I want to go in for the Big Bang club.' I whine.

Zack raises his eyebrows at me, looking annoyed. 'Please do it with me?' I ask, putting on the puppy dog pout.

'Tell you what?' My eyes light up. Is he actually going to agree? 'I'll do your _Big Bang _club, if you do…' So there's a catch. I should've known. He scrolls the list. 'If you do the Bodacious B-Ball club.' He says, grinning cheekily.

'The _Bodacious B-Ball_ club?!' I say, incredulously. He didn't actually think I would do the Bodacious B-Ball club, did he?

'Yup. You might wanna get practising, Codester!' He whips out a biro and writes both of our names down on both lists.

'I hate you.' I say icily.

'Ah, you don't mean it.' Zack says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me away before I could cross my name off.

I didn't mean it, of course I didn't, and Zack knew that, I was just frustrated.

When we got outside, I was still angry with him. He walks next to me, bouncing his basketball. He throws it at me unexpectedly and it hits my side, making it sear in pain.

'Zack!' I say angrily.

I throw it back to him and he catches it perfectly, and then looks at me with a stupid look on his face.

'Blimey, bro, lighten up! I'll take a swing at your head in a minute if you keep acting like that. He pulls a funny face at me, eyes crossed, tongue stuck out.

'Just grow up, Zack!' I shout at him.

'Who wants to grow up?!' He yells back, but he's still not angry.

Then he's in the road

And a beep of a horn

A squeal of brakes

A scream

Zack's S C R E A M

silence.


	2. Laughing

_Zack…Zack…Zack…_

For every heartbeat of mine, I can hear his name. I run over to my brother, as the driver gets out and hurries over. He reaches out, but I put my body over my brother's.

'Don't touch him!' I shout.

He misunderstands, thinking that I was talking about the injuries.

'Of course, of course, he may have spinal injuries…b-but I was only going 30 m-miles…if that, he-he he was just t-there i-in front of me –'

'Call 911!' I interrupt loudly.

'Y-Yes, m-my cell…it's in the car.' He rushes over to his car, looking through the hand compartment.

I can see Zack's basketball a few metres away. It bounces lifelessly once or twice before rolling away. My brother can't be hurt. There's no blood, or anything. No bruises, no nothing. He can't be hurt. He'll wake up in a minute…he'll scream 'Gotcha!' and then run off, before I can get him back. I wait for it to happen…but it doesn't. He stays there…just still. I look into his face, he's still almost smiling. A memory of his last laugh, last joke, last smile.

The man runs back out. 'I-I've called an ambulance.'

I give a little jerk. 'Have you called the police?'

He mirrors my movement. 'N-no. He ran in front of me, you saw, didn't you?'

I saw. Everyone did. People are gathering around by now, whispering and pointing. I take Zack's hand, it's warm but I rip off my jacket and tuck it around him.

* * *

Even though the driver didn't call the police, they came anyway. I'm still holding Zack's hand while they take him into the ambulance…but a policeman is asking me questions.

_Where you with him when it happened? What actually happened? Are you related?_ Of course I'm related, have you looked at us? We're twins.

'We…' I can't say anything. Not anything that's useful to them anyway. I can only say one word.

'Zack!'

'We have to take him for a check-up; he needs to get over the shock.' Says an ambulance woman.

They help me into the ambulance, and they shut the doors. The lights are blaring, the sound deafening. I take Zack's hand again.

'It won't hurt him, will it?'

'No, sweetie, that should be fine.' She's very nice, but her concentration's on Zack. Not that I don't want it to be.

She opens his eyelids and shines a small torch. When she looks in his eyes, so do I. The sparkle that's usually there is gone. His eyes are dull and lifeless.

When we got to the hospital, Zack was taken away from me. I had to sit in the waiting room, while they worked on Zack in another room.

I start counting to 1000.

* * *

I'm on the last hundred now. I can't let anyone interrupt me. If they do, it won't work.

'Cody?'

No, don't interrupt me. I'm nearly there._ 77…78…79…_

'Cody? Zack, he didn't make it.'

I gulp. I knew what the nurse meant, of course I did, but I didn't want to believe it.

'Didn't make what?'

'Zack…he's dead. He died. I'm so sorry, sweetie.'

But I was so close. _85…86…87… _So close.

She hands me a plastic bag with stuff, which has Zachary Martin printed on the front. I look inside. There's his cell phone, and his wallet, and his dog tags he never takes off, and the ring I gave him for Christmas…

'W-Where's his s-school bag?' I ask, choking back tears.

'Right here, sweetheart.' She hands me it and I run. I run out of the hospital, back down the road, past the school. There's a bunch of flowers there already. And his basketball has been laid there. He's only been dead five minutes, and people already know? I place his school bag down there and start to walk on, crying.

'Hey, I wanted that!' I hear a familiar voice.

I turn round, and I see my brother standing there. He's pale and almost white. My eyes widen and he laughs at my expression.

'What's the matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost!' Zack says, still laughing.

* * *

_Ooh, is he a ghost? Please R+R!_


	3. Crying

_Recap_

_I turn round, and I see my brother standing there. He's pale and almost white. My eyes widen and he laughs at my expression._

'_What's the matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost!' Zack says, still laughing._

* * *

'Z-Zack?' I stutter, not believing what I'm seeing.

He's still laughing, but stops when he sees my face. 'Cody, what? What's the matter?'

'B-But…you're dead.' I say, taking a step backwards. I trip over the basketball, and I scramble away from him.

'What are you talking about? I'm not dead, I'm as alive as alive can be!' Zack says, confused.

'N-No, you-you died…I saw you get hit by a…a car, and you…' I trailed off.

'I don't know what you're talking about. But anyway…' he looks at the flowers. 'Who died?' he says, suddenly interested.

'You did!' I say, starting to get annoyed.

Before he can say anything else, I scramble back and get up, and start to run to the Tipton. It must have been in my mind. Zack must have been in my mind.

By the time I get there, my heart is thundering and I'm starting to cry again. I run past that darned vase; it topples and falls. This time, it actually does smash. I see Mr Moseby dash over, and I stop as he misses catching it by inches. He looks at me, anger burning in his eyes.

'I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to…' I say, tears threatening to spill over.

'I always it would be Zack that knocked over my vase, my very valuable vase, but it would turn out…' Mr Moseby drones on to himself as I sink to my knees, crying full on.

He doesn't notice this, but Maddie does. She rushes over and kneels beside me, taking me in her arms, rocking me from side to side. Mr Moseby is still going on about his precious vase, when Maddie stops him.

'Shut it, Mr Moseby!' she shouts.

'Madeline, never talk to me like…' he stops when he sees me. 'What is he crying about?'

'It's because you're shouting at him!'

I shake my head against her chest. Maddie looks down at me.

'Well, then he _should _be sorry!'

'Wait! Why did you shake your head, Cody?' Maddie asks, turning towards me.

'Zack…' I say, not able to say anything else.

'What about Zack?' Maddie says softly.

'He-He's…dead.' I say, burying my head closer into her chest.

Maddie freezes. 'What…what do you mean 'dead'?'

'That's an awful thing to say about your brother, Cody! Take it back right now!' Mr Moseby shouts, looking disappointed.

'Cody?' Maddie say quietly.

'I-I'm not joking. My brother is dead.' I say, directed mostly at Mr Moseby, who's eyes widen.

Maddie starts to cry and wraps her arms even tighter around me. As I close my eyes, I see Zack standing above me, also crying

* * *

_So what did you think? Please review!_


	4. Changing

I couldn't tell Mom. It was too hard. Don't get me wrong, she knows. It just wasn't me who told her. It was Maddie and Mr Moseby.

I am now sat on my bed, as Mom slowly gulps her way through each sentence as if she thinks it's a fluke. Her son's not really dead. Her son's not really dead. He can't be. That's what she's thinking.

Zack is sitting beside me, but he isn't doing much. He asks a few questions here and there, but he doesn't actually do anything. It still makes it hard to concentrate.

'Were you th-there w-when it h-happened?' Mom asks, not being able to look me in the eye.

'Yes.' Zack says, answering for me.

I don't say anything because Zack's already said it, but then I realise that she can't see, hear or feel his presence.

'Cody?'

'H-Huh? Oh right. Yeah, I-I was there.'

'I'm not really dead, am I?' Zack says to me.

'Was there lots of blood?' Mom asks.

'Yes. I-I mean, no. I mean, yes. Oh, just go away and leave me alone!' I shout, standing up.

Mom looks slightly hurt, but I let it pass. She walks out the room, as I turn round to look at my brother. But he's gone too.

'Over here.' Comes a voice from behind me.

I spin around, but there's no-one there. 'Zack?' I whisper.

'Behind you.'

I turn around again, but he keeps disappearing. I start breathing deeply. 'Zack?' I say louder.

'You were never good at hide and seek, even when I was alive.' He says, as a chill rolls down my spine.

'Zack!' I hiss, annoyed.

'Fine.' He appears again, dressed in different clothes.

'How'd you get those?'

'Just thought of them. Quite easy really.'

'Oh, right.' I say, sitting down on my bed again.

Suddenly, there's a gust of wind, so much that I'm knocked off my bed and onto the floor. Zack kneels down to help me, but he can't. My hand goes straight through his.

'Who's there?' Zack asks, standing up.

I get up as well and I see a man standing there, dressed in a black cloak. He hands my brother a piece of paper, and as I peer I see 2 columns.

_To Die_and _Dead_

'What's this?' Zack asks the man.

'I think that's pretty obvious.' Suddenly Zack is in an identical black cloak to the man's.

'Okay, I didn't think of these clothes.' Zack says, inspecting the list, on which names keep appearing and disappearing.

'What have you turned him into?' I ask, dreading the answer.

'Death.'

_Oh my, I didn't see that coming. Oh well. Please Read + Review!_


	5. Warning

_1 month later…_

Zack looked at his list. That name had been on there for almost 3 weeks. The one person he couldn't take the life of. It was written there, climbing its way up the list slowly but surely.

_Cody Martin_

The name at the top of the list was the only person he could focus on at that precise moment. _Poppy Halls._

That exact second that he read her name, tires screech along the road. A girl, she couldn't be more than 5 or 6, landed at Zack's feet. She had blood down the side of her face. Suddenly everything went light, and an almost transparent version of the girl stood up, leaving her real body lying on the ground. Zack took her hand, laid his hand on her cheek and the blood disappeared, the deep gash on her head closing up. He led her to the brightest part of the horizon and she turned and looked at him.

'Go on, it's okay.' He smiled at her, and she walked into the vortex. He had actually been told by "Death" that he should just push them in, but he was the only one that actually was nice to his victims.

Everything went back to the normal world after the light swallowed her. All he heard was,

'I don't think she's breathing…'

'What happened?'

'She got hit by a car…'

'She's dying…'

Zack clicked his fingers and he was back in his and Cody's room. Cody was standing there waiting. 'You said you coming back in a few minutes.' He hissed.

'It took longer than I thought, I was waiting for ages.' Zack said, looking at his list. Poppy's name had disappeared from the _To Die _column, and had reappeared at the beginning of the _Dead _column. His brother's name disappeared and reappeared at the top of the list, causing his eyes to widen. This had happened before.

'You always say that, you're never here for me.' He said angrily, hitting the desk, causing the whole piece of furniture to shake.

A small glass photo frame that was balanced on the built-in shelves on the desk started to sway back and forth. It fell off and headed straight for Cody.

'Cody!' Zack yelled, and Cody jumped out of the way just in time. The photo frame smashed on the floor, causing both of the twins to sigh in relief.

Suddenly everything stopped, Cody was frozen. Zack, however, wasn't. "Death" appeared in front of him. 'Zachary, Zachary, Zachary…what are we going to do with you?'

Zack didn't say anything; he just looked at his feet.

'You know you can't keep saving him, right? This is getting ridiculous.' He said, waving his hand. The photo frame pieces wafted near his brother's head, making Zack look up, frightened.

'But he's my brother!'

'Zachary. If you keep saving him…' The pieces of glass got closer to Cody's head.

'Don't!' Zack yelled, not wanting his brother to die.

'…you'll mess up the sequence, Zachary. If one person doesn't die, then no-one does. It's the cycle of life.'

'But…that's not fair!'

'To quote: "Life's a bitch, and then you die."' Death said, dropping the pieces of glass. 'No pun intended.'

Zack looked between Death, and his brother. 'Oh, man…'

'Kill him, Zachary. Don't mess up the rotation; they'll all be doomed otherwise.'

Zack had tears in his eyes.

'Fix it.' Death's voice said as he disappeared.

**Uh oh. Please, please, please review…I feel so, so, so unloved… :(**


	6. Ending

'Hey honey.' Carey said as Cody walked out of the bedroom.

'Hey Mom.' He said, going over to hug her.

She hugged him back. 'Sweetie, I got a letter today. We have to go to court…for Zack.' She whispered her eldest son's name.

Cody tensed and pulled away. 'Oh. Okay.' He'd thought that he wouldn't miss Zack because he still saw him and talked to him, but he missed his touch, his hugs the most.

'I would like to say you don't have to go, but I'm afraid you're needed.' Carey said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

'That's fine, Mom.' Cody said in a monotone, walking into his room.

Carey stared after him, tears coming to her eyes.

* * *

_Cody's POV_

'Tell us in your own words what happened on the afternoon of the 27th.'

I open my mouth but no sound comes out. 'I…'

Zack is off on another meeting with Death. He was all distant today, but I don't know what to think of it. I don't know anything anymore.

'Cody?'

'Zack screamed…when the car hit him.' I say, surprised at the sound of my voice.

'What happened _before_ that?'

My mind flashes back to the 27th.

_He walks next to me, bouncing his basketball. He throws it at me unexpectedly and it hits my side, making it sear in pain._

I can feel the pain now; it flows through me, so unbearable that my brain hurts.

'_Zack!' I say angrily._

_I throw it back to him and he catches it perfectly, and then looks at me with a stupid look on his face._

'_Blimey, bro, lighten up! I'll take a swing at your head in a minute if you keep acting like that.' He pulls a funny face at me, eyes crossed, tongue stuck out._

'_Just grow up, Zack!' I shout at him._

'_Who wants to grow up?!' He yells back, but he's still not angry._

_Then he's in the road_

_And a beep of a horn_

_A squeal of brakes_

_A scream_

_Zack's S C R E A M_

_silence._

I did that. I drove him to his death. I killed my twin brother.

I can still hear the screaming. I realise that it isn't his scream I'm listening to anymore, it's my own. They start to rush towards me and I step off the podium I'm standing on and run, pushing through all the people. I hear my mother scream after me, and the guilt sets in. But I have to be with him. My brother is my life.

I'm running down the road, and suddenly Zack is running beside me. I don't know if I'm running from him or to him.

I sprint into the road.

Then I'm in the road

And a beep of a horn

A squeal of brakes

A scream

My S C R E A M

And arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me back. I struggle, and turn round to see who it was who took my paradise from me.

It was him. My brother. My twin.

What was he doing saving me from something I wanted to do? Why was he taking me away from him? How was he able to pull me out of the road?

He looks at me. 'What the hell do you think you're _doing_?!' I shout at him.

'I was about to ask you the same thing!' he yells back.

'I just want to be with you.' I whisper.

Suddenly everything freezes. I look around and shiver. Zack looks confused, but somehow I think this might have happened to him before.

'Don't do this!' he yells to no-one.

I'm about to ask him who he's talking to, when Death appears in front of us. 'Why isn't he frozen?' Zack says through gritted teeth.

'Because…'

I look from one to the other. 'Can someone please tell me what's happening?'

Zack glances at me and then looks at Death again. 'Please don't do this. He doesn't deserve this. He didn't do anything wrong.'

'What? What didn't I do?' After I get no response, I throw my arms up in the air, rolling my eyes and sighing dramatically.

'I'm not here to kill him, Zachary.'

'Then what are you here for?' Zack looks at me, and then tears his eyes away to look back at Death.

'I've realised something. I can't break such a strong bond. But Zachary…someone has to go. It's either you or him. I'm…sorry. But it has to be done.'

Zack looks down at his feet, but I'm confused. 'But Zack's already dead.'

'You'd never be able to see me again, Cody.' Zack says, avoiding my eyes.

'What?!' I can't…I can't do this. I can't lose him again.

'If I go, you won't see me again. And if you go, I won't be able to see you again. The one who goes will be the one who will be able to watch over the one who doesn't.' I see the tears in his eyes but he still continues. 'If you died, I would stay as Death's "assistant" and if I went, you'd just have to stay here.'

'But…there's no way around it? Can't you make me one of your assistants as well?' I ask, frantic. Death shakes his head. 'Oh God…'

'Cody…don't die.' Zack says, staring straight at me.

'What?'

'I'll go. Take me.' He says, still staring at me, but obviously talking to Death.

Death looks at me, confused. I shrug and look at my brother. 'I'm not going to let you.'

'You have to, Cody.' Zack says, swallowing. 'It's not your time.'

I frown. 'But it wasn't yours.'

'Yeah it was.' Zack says, nodding.

Death walks away, leaving us be. 'But…why are you doing this? I didn't save you.'

'Oh, come on, Cody. Do you honestly think it was your fault?' I nod, tears coming to my eyes. 'Well, it's not. I ran into the road. You didn't push me under the car, did you?' I shake my head. 'Well then. Cody, I'm not going to let you go.'

'But…I won't ever see you again.'

'I'll always be with you, Cody. You'll see me again one day.' Zack says, starting to cry as well. He opens his arms.

I walk into them, and at that moment, I forget how he's able to hug me. 'I miss your hugs, Zack.'

'They're never too far away.' Zack says, ruffling my hair. I smile against his chest. As I start to relax, his body fades and I'm left hugging nothing. 'I love you, Cody.' I hear.

'Cody!' My mother shouts, suddenly unfrozen. She hugs me just as Zack had. 'Oh God, Cody, why did you do that?!' she whispers, kissing the top of my head.

'I…I…' I murmur.

My mother takes my face in her hands and stares me straight in the eyes. 'I love you so much, Cody.'

'I love you too, Mom.' I reply, letting her pull me into a hug. 'I love you too.' I repeat, looking up at the sky.

**Yep, last chapter. If you want, I can write an epilogue, but I don't mind. Please Review!**


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